Jay J."JayBird" Nelson December 18 1944-July 30 2019
Jay passed away suddenly at his home in Dublin on Tuesday July 30. Jay was the youngest of his family preceded in death by his parents Joe and Sylvia Nelson of Pleasanton and his brother Ronald Nelson also his wife Jeanne Nelson all of Pleasanton. Jay grew up as a young boy off Happy Valley Rd. (otherwise know as Chicken Alley) on a farm. He worked the farm with his father until they decided to move closer to downtown Pleasanton. In his 30's he purchased the local favorite hangout Pastime Pool located at 511 Main st. with his in laws Frank and Jackie Shenave also of Pleasanton. They all ran Pastime Pool as a family business for 37 years until 2014 when it closed its door for the last call. Jay was an avid horse racing fan. He also was a horse owner and loved watching and betting the ponies. Every year you'd find him in the same spot at the Alameda County fair in his favorite chair routing on his picks of the day. Being a longtime Pleasanton resident Jay touched the lives of many people. He had hundreds of friends from years of working the bar and following the horse racing circuit around California. Everywhere he went people would ask him for a tip on a race or who was his favorite horse of the day. Jay leaves his children Michael (Bri) of Livermore and Joe of Pleasanton. Jay also leaves behind his four grandchildren that he absolutely loved and adored. His ashes will be spread over all the race tracks throughout Northern California he loved so much.